On December 25, 2017 at 19:44 UTC (on December 26 at 03:44 Beijing time) the Chang Zheng-2C (Long March-2C) rocket-carrier was launched from Xichang Cosmodrome, Sichuan province, southwestern China. The rocket orbited three “Yaogan-30” military satellites. Xinhua reported the “Yaogan-30” satellites will “conduct electromagnetic environmental probes and other experiments.” The Yaogan series of satellites are believed to be operated by the Chinese military for intelligence-gathering purposes.